Farmers’ ‘tractor-march’ to affect traffic on NH-9 and Eastern Peripheral Expressway

Ghaziabad: Farmers protesting at the UP Gate on Wednesday said they will carry out a dress rehearsal of their Republic Day “Dilli Chalo” tractor march on the 135-km

Ghaziabad: Farmers protesting at the UP Gate on Wednesday said they will carry out a dress rehearsal of their Republic Day “Dilli Chalo” tractor march on the 135-km Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) on Thursday morning. The march is likely to affect commuters on the EPE and the national highway-9 (NH-9).

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The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which maintains both highways, said that tractors were not allowed to ply on the EPE under even normal circumstances. The district administration said they had appealed to the protesters to desist from breaking rules.

The protesters have been camping at the site since November 28 and have also blocked the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway of NH-9 since December 3. They, along with other protesters at various borders of Delhi, are demanding repeal of the three new farm laws and a new law on minimum support price.

During the last round of their talks with the government, there was no decision on repeal of laws while the government has clarified that they were ready to discuss amendments.

The next round of talks is scheduled on January 8.

“As a dress rehearsal of our ‘Dilli Chalo’ call on January 26, our farmers will drive tractors and will enter the EPE from the Dasna interchange on Thursday around 10 am. The tractors will be lined up properly and no trolleys will be part of the march. Thereafter, the tractors will move to Palwal and come back to Dasna,” said Rajbir Singh, state vice-president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).

They said they would move in such a way that the effect on traffic would be minimal.

“Each of the tractors will bear the national flag and also the flag of the BKU. It is estimated that about 500-600 tractors will participate. Our leaders have already said that if our demands are not met, we will proceed to Delhi on January 26. So, in a way, we are conducting a rehearsal on Thursday,” he added.

The NHAI officials said that the march will affect traffic on both the major road stretches. On normal days, the EPE has traffic of about 50000 passenger car unit (PCU) per day, while the UP Gate stretch has daily PCU of about 80000 vehicles per day.

“Tractors are not allowed at the EPE and there will be traffic disruption if they carry out a march. We will speak to the district officials about the issue. Already, the farmers have made two major tolls at Palwal and Sonipat free and it is also affecting revenue. It is estimated that the tolls fetch us about ₹90 lakh per day but we are getting only about ₹25 lakh per day since December 25,” said Mudit Garg, project director of NHAI.

District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said that he has spoken to farmers and have asked them to abide by rules and regulations.

“Also, our committee of officials is already in constant touch with farmers’ leaders. We will also ask the police to make more deployment to ensure that commuters do not face issues,” Pandey, added.